JP7574530B2 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALLOCATING SPECTRUM TO A PLURALITY OF RESOURCE UNITS IN A WIRELESS NETWORK - Patent application - Google Patents

Description

This application relates to mobile air interface technologies, and more particularly to methods, systems, and devices for allocating spectrum for efficient operation in wireless networks.

Networks that operate according to Wi-Fi® protocols, including IEEE 802.11 protocols such as IEEE 802.11ax specified in IEEE Draft P802.11ax_D8.0, allocate multiple bands of the radio frequency spectrum for use by different stations at different times.

A new protocol, IEEE 802.11be, is currently under development by the IEEE 802.11 Task Group TGbe and will be the next major IEEE 802.11 amendment that will define the next generation of Wi-Fi after IEEE 802.11ax (currently IEEE Draft P802.11ax_D8.0). IEEE 802.11be (also called Extremely High Throughput (EHT)) is also expected to support data rates of at least 30 GBp and may use up to 320 MHz of spectrum bandwidth for unlicensed operation, double the 160 MHz maximum bandwidth currently anticipated by IEEE 802.11ax.

IEEE 802.11ax supports Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) transmission, in which data intended for different stations can be multiplexed within an OFDM symbol through allocation of different subsets of subcarriers (tones). In IEEE 802.11ax, a Resource Unit (RU) consists of a group of contiguous subcarriers defined in the frequency domain. Different RUs can be assigned to different stations within a PPDU. Each RU is used for one OFDM symbol for one station (also referred to as STA). Figure 1 shows an example of station-STA resource allocation in IEEE 802.11ax.

In IEEE 802.11ax, RUs are defined based on RU size, such as 26-tone RU, 52-tone RU, 106-tone RU, 242-tone RU, 484-tone RU, 996-tone RU, 2x996-tone RU, etc. Information about RUs assigned to stations in a multi-user (MU) configuration, such as RU location and RU size, is indicated in the HE-SIG-B field of the physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) in IEEE 802.11ax. Information about RUs assigned to stations in a single user (SU) configuration, such as RU location and RU size, is indicated in the HE-SIG-A field of the physical layer protocol (PHY) data unit (PPDU) in IEEE 802.11ax, and in a single user (SU) configuration, the RU size is uniquely determined by spanning the entire assigned operating channel, i.e., 242, 484, 996 and 2x996 tone RU sizes correspond to 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz and 160 (or 80+80)MHz bandwidths, respectively.

As shown above, IEEE 802.11be will support wide bandwidths up to 320 MHz. Wider bandwidths bring opportunities and problems that are not present in narrower bandwidth systems. For example, EHT-enabled Wi-Fi should enable a significant increase in the volume of high-throughput data transmissions, as well as the proliferation of a very large number of low-data-rate devices, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices. However, as a result of the projected deployment density, the probability that a single station will have access to a large number of contiguous subcarriers within the 320 MHz bandwidth at any one time may be expected to be low. In this regard, an operational feature called multiple RUs (multi-RU) has been proposed for IEEE 802.11be, in which multiple RUs, each with a respective subset of the contiguous subcarriers, may be assigned to one station, each in an OFDM symbol.

For multi-RU purposes, RUs are divided into two types: "small size" RUs, which include 26-tone RUs, 52-tone RUs, and 106-tone RUs, and "large size" RUs, which include 242-tone RUs, 484-tone RUs, 996-tone RUs, 2x996-tone RUs, and 4x996-tone RUs. When multiple RUs are assigned to a station, the assignment must be a set of multiple small size RUs or multiple large size RUs, and current methods do not support a multi-RU assignment configuration for a station that mixes small and large size RUs.

2A-C show frequency sub-bands displaying RU locations in a HE PPDU in 802.11ax. Figure 2A shows a single 242-tone, 20 MHz bandwidth, large size RU 208 and possible small size RU combinations that may occupy the same 20 MHz sub-band instead of a 242-tone RU: two 106-tone small size RUs and a single 26-tone RU (shown as two 13-tone bands) 206 between them, or four 52-tone RUs and a single 26-tone RU (shown as two 13-tone bands) 204 between the second and third 52-tone RUs, or eight 26-tone RUs and a single additional 26-tone RU (shown as two 13-tone bands) 202 between the fourth and fifth 26-tone RUs. Similarly, FIG. 2B shows a single 484-tone, 40 MHz bandwidth, large size RU 220 and possible large or small size RU combinations that may occupy the same 40 MHz band instead of the 484-tone RU: two 242-tone large size RUs 218, or two sets of the same small size RU combinations as shown in FIG. 2A. Finally, FIG. 2C shows a single 996-tone, 80 MHz bandwidth, large size RU 232 and possible large or small size RU combinations that may occupy the same 80 MHz band instead of the 996-tone RU: two 484-tone large size RUs 230, or two sets of the same large or small size RU combinations as shown in FIG. 2B.

Allocation of small or large size resource units within a portion of a frequency spectrum should ideally accommodate a large number of combinations of RU sizes and unavailable spectrum bands without using overly complex bit sequences to encode the resource unit allocation configuration. However, existing proposals for allocation configuration encoding schemes are either overly complex (requiring a large number of entries in a mapping table to index) or omit many useful allocation configurations.

According to a first exemplary aspect, a method is provided for allocating a portion of a frequency spectrum in a wireless local area network. A plurality of sub-bands of equal size that constitute the portion of the frequency spectrum are identified. One or more of the plurality of sub-bands are identified as unavailable. A bit representation is generated that represents an allocation of resource units within the portion of the frequency spectrum for use by a target station. The bit representation is comprised of a plurality of binary values. Each binary value indicates availability or unavailability of one or more sub-bands. A physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) is generated. The PPDU includes a header. The header includes the bit representation. The PPDU is transmitted to the target station.

According to a second exemplary aspect, a method for communicating over a wireless local area network is provided. A PPDU is received over the wireless local area network. The PPDU includes a header. The header includes a bit representation. An allocation of resource units within a portion of a frequency spectrum is identified based on the bit representation. The bit representation is comprised of a plurality of binary values. Each binary value indicates availability or unavailability of one or more subbands of a plurality of equally sized subbands that make up the portion of the frequency spectrum. Each resource unit corresponds to one or more of the identified available subbands. One or more of the resource units are used to communicate over the wireless local area network.

In any of the above examples, the portion of the frequency spectrum that is allocated is the operating channel, each subband has a bandwidth of 20 MHz, and each binary value indicates an unavailable subband or one or more available subbands that are capable of supporting a single-user large size resource unit.

In any of the above examples, the operating channel is comprised of one to four sub-blocks of the operating channel, each sub-block of the operating channel being comprised of four contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands, and the bit representation is comprised of a corresponding sub-block representation for each sub-block of the operating channel, each sub-block representation being comprised of one or more binary values.

In any of the above examples, each binary value is two bits, and each binary value corresponds to the size of an unavailable 20 MHz subband or one or more available contiguous 20 MHz subbands.

In any of the above examples, the four possible binary values correspond to an unavailable subband, an available subband, two consecutive available subbands, and four consecutive available subbands.

In any of the above examples, each binary value is one bit, and each binary value corresponds to an unavailable 20 MHz subband or an available 20 MHz subband.

In any of the above examples, the portion of the frequency spectrum allocated is a 20 MHz band with 9 subbands, each binary value being a bit, and each binary value corresponding to an unavailable subband or an available subband.

In either of the above examples, the fifth subband in frequency order is not available for allocation and the bit representation has 8 bits.

In any of the above examples, the header includes a universal signal field and the bit representation is included in the universal signal field.

In any of the above examples, the header includes an extremely high throughput signal field, and the bit representation is included in the extremely high throughput signal field.

According to a further exemplary aspect, a station is provided. The station is capable of use in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the station being configured to perform one or more of the methods described above.

According to a further exemplary aspect, a processing system is provided. The processing system includes a processing device, a wireless network interface for wireless communication with a network, and a memory. The memory stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing device, implement a communications module configured to perform one or more of the methods described above using the wireless network interface.

According to a further exemplary aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided having executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processing device, implements a communications module configured to perform one or more of the above methods using a wireless network interface.

Reference is now made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings which show exemplary embodiments of the present application.

1 (Prior Art) An example of station (STA) resource allocation in 802.11ax is shown.

1 (Prior Art) shows frequency bands indicating possible RU locations within a 20 MHz frequency band in an HE PPDU in 802.11ax.

1 (Prior Art) shows frequency bands indicating possible RU locations within a 40 MHz frequency band in a HE PPDU in 802.11ax.

1 (Prior Art) shows frequency bands indicating possible RU locations within an 80 MHz frequency band in an HE PPDU in 802.11ax.

4 illustrates an example of multiple RUs assigned to one station according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communication network according to one implementation of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel including a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel that includes one unavailable 20 MHz sub-band and one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 60 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 80 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 40 MHz sub-bands according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel including a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel, including one unavailable 20 MHz sub-band and one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band, according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 60 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 80 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 40 MHz sub-bands according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel including a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel that includes one unavailable 20 MHz sub-band and one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel including one unavailable 60 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 40 MHz sub-bands according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for an 80 MHz operating channel including a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for an 80 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel including a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates some example RU sizes and corresponding allocation bit representations for small size resource units in a 20 MHz band according to a first aspect of a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates some example RU sizes and corresponding allocation bit representations for small size resource units in a 20 MHz band according to a second aspect of the third embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a small-sized resource unit in a 20 MHz band that includes two available 26-tone resource units according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a small-sized resource unit in a 20 MHz band that includes five available 26-tone resource units according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a small-sized resource unit in a 20 MHz band, including two available 26-tone resource units and two available 52-tone resource units, according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for small size resource units in a 20 MHz band, including one available 26-tone resource unit and one available 106-tone resource unit, according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates an RU allocation configuration for small size resource units in a 40 MHz band, including four available 26-tone resource units and four available 52-tone resource units, according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

5 illustrates an exemplary physical layer protocol data packet format for communicating information over the wireless medium of the communications network of FIG. 4.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a processing system that may be used in one or more stations of the communication network of FIG. 4 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

4 is a flow chart illustrating steps of a method for allocating resource units according to an example embodiment.

5 is a flow chart illustrating steps in a method for receiving resource unit allocation information for communication over a wireless network, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Throughout these figures, like reference numbers are used to denote like elements and features. While aspects of the invention will be described in conjunction with illustrated embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to such embodiments.

The present disclosure teaches methods, devices, and systems for allocating spectrum to operate efficiently in wireless networks. Next generation wireless local area network (WLAN) systems, including next generation Wi-Fi systems such as EHT systems proposed under the developing IEEE 802.11be protocol, will have access to greater bandwidth. As noted above, a multi-RU feature has been proposed for IEEE 802. However, and as noted above, existing proposals for allocation configuration encoding schemes are either overly complex (requiring a large number of entries in a mapping table to index) or omit many useful allocation configurations.

Methods, devices, and processing systems are disclosed for encoding single-user (SU), multi-resource unit (multi-RU) allocations in wireless networks. The embodiments described herein relate to three distinct multi-RU encoding methods, and devices and processing systems for performing these methods. Each of the described embodiments may have certain advantages over existing proposals for multi-RU encoding in 802.11be or other wireless communication technologies, including low complexity (i.e., easy implementation using bit representations of multi-RU allocations) and/or achieving certain allocation configurations not available with other proposed encodings.

Figure 3 illustrates a representative example of multiple RUs assigned to a single target station 302, according to an exemplary embodiment. In the example of Figure 3, the target station 302 is assigned two non-contiguous RUs, RU0 304 and RU2 308, in each of multiple OFDM symbols Sym 0 through Sym N-1 within the PPDU.

Example network

An example of an environment in which multi-RU allocation may occur is shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows a communication network 100 including multiple stations (STAs), which may include fixed, portable, and mobile stations. The example of FIG. 4 shows a single fixed STA, an access point station (AP-STA) 104, and multiple STAs 102, which may be portable or mobile. The network 100 may operate according to one or more communication or data standards or technologies, but in at least some examples, the network 100 is a WLAN, and in at least some examples, a next generation Wi-Fi compliant network that operates according to one or more protocols from the 802.11 family of protocols.

Each STA 102 may be a laptop, desktop PC, PDA, Wi-Fi phone, wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal, smartphone, cell phone, sensor, Internet of Things (IOT) device, or other wireless-enabled computing or mobile device. In some embodiments, the STA 102 includes a machine capable of transmitting, receiving, or transmitting and receiving data in the communication network 100, but performing a primary function other than communication. The AP-STA 104 may include a network access interface that serves as a wireless transmitting and/or receiving point for the STA 102 in the network 100. The AP-STA 104 may be connected to a backhaul network 110 that enables data to be exchanged between the AP-STA 104 and other remote networks (including, for example, the Internet), nodes, APs, and devices (not shown). The AP-STA 104 may support communication with each STA 102 over the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum wireless medium 106 by establishing uplink and downlink communication links or channels with each STA 102, as represented by the arrows in FIG. 4. In some examples, the STAs 102 may be configured to communicate with each other. Communications in the network 100 may be unscheduled, scheduled by the AP-STA 104 or by a scheduling or management entity (not shown) within the network 100, or may be a mix of scheduled and unscheduled communications.

In some embodiments, the AP-STA 104 is configured to perform one or more of the RU assignment transmission methods described herein. In some embodiments, one or more of the STAs 102 or the AP-STA 104 is configured to perform one or more of the RU assignment reception methods described herein.

Exemplary processing system

In some embodiments, a processing system may be used to perform one or more steps of the methods described herein. With reference to FIG. 14, an exemplary processing system 150 is shown that may be used to implement the methods and systems described herein, such as the STA 102 or AP-STA 104. Other processing systems suitable for implementing the methods and systems described in this disclosure may be used, which may include different components than those described below. Although FIG. 14 shows a single instance of each component, multiple instances of each component may be present in the processing system 150.

The processing system 150 may include one or more processing devices 152, such as a processor, a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a special purpose logic circuit, or a combination thereof. The processing system 150 may also include one or more input/output (I/O) interfaces 154 that may be implemented to interface with one or more suitable input devices and/or output devices (not shown). One or more of the input devices and/or output devices may be included as components of the processing system 150 or may be external to the processing system 150. The processing system 150 may include one or more network interfaces 158 for wired or wireless communication with a network. In an exemplary embodiment, the network interface 158 includes one or more wireless interfaces, such as a transmitter 118 and a receiver 146, that implement communication in a WLAN, such as the network 100. The one or more network interfaces 158 may include interfaces to wired links (e.g., Ethernet cables) and/or wireless links (e.g., one or more radio frequency links) for intra-network and/or inter-network communication. The one or more network interfaces 158 may provide wireless communication, for example, via one or more transmitters or transmit antennas, one or more receivers or receive antennas, and various signal processing hardware and software. In this regard, some network interfaces 158 may include respective processing systems similar to the processing system 150. In this example, a single antenna 160 is shown that may function as both a transmit and receive antenna. However, in other examples, there may be separate antennas for transmitting and receiving. The one or more network interfaces 158 may be configured to transmit and receive data in the network 100 to the backhaul network 110 or to other STAs, user devices, access points, receive points, transmit points, network nodes, gateways, or relays (not shown).

The processing system 150 may also include one or more storage units 170, which may include mass storage units such as solid state drives, hard disk drives, magnetic disk drives, and/or optical disk drives. The processing system 150 may also include one or more memories 172, which may include volatile or non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, random access memory (RAM), and/or read-only memory (ROM)).

The one or more non-transitory memories 172 may store instructions to be executed by the one or more processing devices 152, such as to perform steps of a method and/or implement a system of the present disclosure. These instructions, when executed by the processing device, may implement a communications module 180 configured to perform the methods described herein using a wireless network interface. The communications module 180 may use other data or instructions stored in the one or more memories 172, such as network configuration instructions and network status information (not shown).

The one or more memories 172 may include other software instructions, such as those for implementing an operating system and other applications/functions. In some examples, one or more data sets and/or one or more modules may be provided by external memory (e.g., an external drive in wired or wireless communication with the processing system 150) or may be provided by a temporary or non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include RAM, ROM, erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, CD-ROM, or other portable memory storage.

There may be a bus 192 that provides communication between components of the processing system 150, including one or more processing devices 152, one or more I/O interfaces 154, one or more network interfaces 158, one or more storage units 170, and one or more memories 172. The bus 192 may be any suitable bus architecture, including, for example, a memory bus, a peripheral bus, or a video bus.

The transmitter 118 receives as an input a serial stream of data bits to be transmitted. In an exemplary embodiment, the input includes data bits to be included in a physical layer protocol (PHY) payload (e.g., a PHY service data unit (PSDU) of a multi-RU physical layer protocol (PHY) data unit (PPDU)). The transmitter 118 generates a stream of OFDM symbols for inclusion in the PHY payload of the PPDU (e.g., the PSDU).

In an exemplary embodiment, the PSDU output is modulated onto a carrier frequency and appended to a PHY header to provide a PPDU transmitted over the wireless medium 106. In this regard, FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary frame format that may be used for an EHT PPDU according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown, the PHY header appended to the PSDU may include at least the following header fields: a universal signal (U-SIG) 1302 and an extreme high throughput signal (EHT-SIG) 1304. In some embodiments, information about the RUs assigned to the STAs, such as RU location and RU size, may be indicated in the EHT-SIG field of the PPDU. In other embodiments, information about the RUs assigned to the STAs, such as RU location and RU size, may be indicated in the U-SIG field of the PPDU. For example, the EHT-SIG or U-SIG field may include a station subfield for each STA 102. Each station subfield may include further subfields that specify various parameters used in the communication: a STA-ID that uniquely identifies the target STA, and a bit representation of the allocation of the RU to the target STA.

At the receiving STA, the PSDU may be recovered by applying a process that is largely the reverse of what was done at the transmitting STA. For example, the receiving STA 102 may demodulate and decode the PHY header of the received PPDU to determine which RUs were assigned to that STA 102. The STA 102 may then communicate using signals on the subcarrier sets that belong to the multiple RUs assigned to the STA 102.

Resource unit allocation encoding

Although this disclosure describes methods and processes having steps in a particular order, one or more steps of the methods and processes may be omitted or modified, as appropriate. One or more steps may be performed in an order other than that described, as appropriate.

15, a multi-RU allocation transmission method 1500, according to various exemplary embodiments described herein, is provided for allocating a portion of a frequency spectrum in a wireless local area network, such as an 802.11be network. The method may be performed by a transmitting station, such as an AP-STA 104, or a station for allocating RUs for transmission, or different steps of the method may be performed by different electronic devices in communication with each other by a digital data link, such as a bus or a communication link. In some embodiments, a processing system, such as processing system 150, may perform the steps of the method. Various steps of method 1500 may be performed in a different order than described, or may be omitted in some embodiments.

The portion of the frequency spectrum is a defined bandwidth of the radio spectrum, such as a 20, 80, 160, 240, or 320 MHz bandwidth of unlicensed radio spectrum used for 802.11be communications. In some examples, the portion of the frequency spectrum may be a contiguous band (e.g., a single contiguous 160 MHz band), while in other examples, the portion of the frequency spectrum may include a bandwidth divided into two or more bands (e.g., a 240 MHz portion of the frequency spectrum may consist of an 80 MHz band at one frequency and a 160 MHz band at another frequency).

In some embodiments, such as some embodiments used to allocate multiple large size RUs, the portion of the frequency spectrum allocated may be an operating channel. In other embodiments, such as some embodiments used to allocate multiple small size RUs, the portion of the frequency spectrum allocated may be a single 20 MHz band.

In step 1502, a number of equal-sized sub-bands that make up a portion of the frequency spectrum are identified. This step may be performed by the communications module 180 as implemented by the processing device 152 based on network configuration instructions stored in the memory 172 of the processing system 150. If a large size RU is assigned to the target station, each of the sub-bands is 20 MHz wide, corresponding to the bandwidth for a single 242-tone RU. If a small size RU is assigned to the target station, each of the sub-bands corresponds to the bandwidth for a single 26-tone RU.

In step 1504, some of the sub-bands are identified as available and others as unavailable. The sub-bands may be unavailable because there is interference or licensed use in those sub-bands, or because they have been assigned to another station. This step may be performed by the communication module 180 as implemented by the processing device 152 based on network status information stored in the memory 172 or received via the network interface 158 of the processing system 150.

In step 1506, a bit representation is generated representing the allocation of resource units within the portion of the allocated frequency spectrum for use by the target station in the network. This step may be performed by the communication module 180 as implemented by the processing device 152 of the processing system 150 according to encoding instructions corresponding to various bit encoding schemes described below in relation to the first, second and third embodiments. The bit representation is composed of a number of binary values, each binary value indicating the availability or unavailability of one or more bands within the portion of the frequency spectrum, as already identified.

At step 1508, a physical layer protocol data unit (e.g., a PPDU) is generated by the transmitter 118. The physical layer protocol data unit includes a header, which is generated including a bit representation indicating the availability or unavailability of one or more subbands for the RU assigned to the target station, as described above in connection with the exemplary processing system. At step 1510, the transmitter 118 transmits the physical layer protocol data unit to the target station.

A target station, or another STA receiving an RU allocation according to the encoding scheme described herein, may perform a process that is substantially the reverse of that done at the transmitting STA. With reference to FIG. 16, a multi-RU allocation receiving method 1600, according to various exemplary embodiments described herein, is provided for communicating in a wireless local area network, such as an 802.11be network, based on a received resource unit allocation. The method may be performed by a station, such as STA 102, or different steps of the method may be performed by different electronic devices in communication with each other by a digital data link, such as a bus or communication link. Various steps of the method 1600 may be performed in a different order than described, or may be omitted in some embodiments.

At step 1602, a physical layer protocol data unit (e.g., a PPDU) is received in the wireless local area network from an RU-assigning station (such as AP-STA 104) via receiver 146. The physical layer protocol data unit includes a header that includes a bit representation indicating availability or unavailability of one or more subbands or of the assigned RU to the receiving STA station, as described above in connection with the exemplary processing system.

In step 1604, an allocation of resource units within the portion of the frequency spectrum may be identified based on the bit representation. The portion of the frequency spectrum is a defined bandwidth of the radio spectrum, such as a 20, 80, 160, 240 or 320 MHz channel or band of the unlicensed radio spectrum used for 802.11be communications. The bit representation is composed of a number of binary values, each of which indicates the availability or unavailability of one or more equal-bandwidth spectral sub-bands of the allocated portion of the frequency spectrum. Each resource unit corresponds to one or more of the identified available sub-bands. This step may be performed by the communications module 180, as implemented by the processing device 152 of the processing system 150, according to decoding instructions corresponding to various bit encoding schemes described below in connection with the first, second and third embodiments.

At step 1606, the STA communicates over the wireless local area network using one or more of the assigned resource units using its transmitter 118 and/or receiver 146 as described above in connection with the exemplary processing system.

Exemplary bit encoding schemes are now described for generating and decoding bit representations of RU allocations for stations in a wireless network in connection with the first, second, and third embodiments.

First embodiment - Large size RU allocation #1

In a first embodiment, the bit representation generated by the RU-allocating STA or transmitting STA and/or received and decoded by the receiving STA is applicable when multiple large size RUs (i.e., 242-tone, 484-tone, or 996-tone RUs) are allocated to a single target STA. In this embodiment, the portion of the allocated frequency spectrum is the operating channel, each subband has a bandwidth of 20 MHz, and each binary value in the bit representation indicates either an unavailable subband or one or more contiguous available subbands capable of supporting a single user large size resource unit (SU RU).

To generate the bit representation, first, a representation complexity N that represents the maximum number of RUs is identified. The value of the representation complexity N used for the allocation encoding scheme may be set to different values in different embodiments. For example, in some embodiments, a 320 MHz operating channel may have N=8, a 240 MHz operating channel may have N=7, a 160 MHz operating channel may have N=6, and an 80 MHz operating channel may have N=4.

Second, a fixed bit length n of a binary value may be used to identify each unavailable subband or each set of available subbands that support the RU, in this case two bits (n=2).

are concatenated together, resulting in a bit representation for the RU aggregation of length Nxn bits. It will be appreciated that a higher value of the representation complexity N provides a greater number of potential RU allocation configurations at the expense of requiring a longer bit representation. In various embodiments, N may be set to a value up to the number of subbands, i.e., a 320 MHz operating channel may have N≦16.

In some embodiments, when the number of RUs assigned to a target station is less than N, the bits representing available and unavailable subbands are placed in the first positions and the remaining bit positions are set to zero.

In the first embodiment described, the binary values used to indicate unavailable bands and available sub-bands are presented in the table below.

Thus, the binary value of each two bits corresponds to the size of an unavailable 20 MHz subband or one or more available contiguous 20 MHz subbands. The four possible binary values correspond to an unavailable subband (e.g., 00), an available subband (e.g., 01), two contiguous available subbands (e.g., 10), and four contiguous available subbands (e.g., 11). It will be appreciated that these binary values may be arbitrarily rearranged or reassigned in different embodiments.

In some embodiments, two or more contiguous available sub-bands may be treated as a single portion of spectrum instead of multiple sub-bands, so a 40 MHz portion of spectrum capable of supporting 484-tone RUs may be treated as a single 40 MHz portion instead of two sub-bands, and an 80 MHz portion of spectrum capable of supporting 996-tone RUs may be treated as a single 80 MHz portion instead of four sub-bands. Similarly, in some embodiments, a 60 MHz portion of contiguous available spectrum may be treated as a single 60 MHz portion instead of three sub-bands.

In Figures 5A-5G, 320 MHz operating channels are shown in various allocation configurations. In Figures 6A-6G, 240 MHz operating channels are shown in various allocation configurations. In Figures 7A-7F, 160 MHz operating channels are shown in various allocation configurations. In Figures 8A-8B, 80 MHz operating channels are shown in various allocation configurations. In each case, the operating channels are made up of one to four sub-blocks of the operating channel, with each sub-block of the operating channel being made up of four contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands.

The bit representations shown in each figure are composed of the operating channel representations of the corresponding subblocks for each 80 MHz subblock of the operating channel, with each subblock's operating channel representation being composed of one or more binary values. Thus, available and unavailable subbands are specified separately for each 80 MHz subblock of the operating channel.

According to an exemplary aspect of the first embodiment, interpretation rules may be applied to the encoding and decoding schemes to improve compatibility. Unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands may not straddle 20 or 40 MHz boundaries within a given sub-block of an operating channel, or 80 MHz boundaries between sub-blocks of an operating channel. Unavailable 40 MHz, 60 MHz, or 80 MHz of spectrum (i.e., two, three, or four contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands) may not straddle 80 MHz boundaries between sub-blocks of an operating channel.

Various examples of bit representations for various RU allocations according to the first embodiment are shown in Figures 5A-5G, 6A-6G, 7A-7F, and 8A-8B.

Figure 5A shows an allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 502 that includes a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504. The 320 MHz operating channel 502 is shown as being made up of four 80 MHz sub-blocks 520. The bit representation for this RU allocation configuration is 16 bits: 0100101111110000.

Figure 5B shows an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 502 that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands 504. The bit representation for this RU allocation configuration is 16 bits: 0001101110010011.

Figure 5C shows an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 502 that includes one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band 506. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 16 bits: 1110000011110000.

Figure 5D illustrates an allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 502 including one unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504 and one unavailable 40 MHz band 506 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 16 bits: 1110000111000010.

Figure 5E shows an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 502 that includes one unavailable 60 MHz band 508. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 16 bits: 1111010000001100.

Figure 5F shows an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 502, which includes one unavailable 80 MHz band 510. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 16 bits: 1100000000111100.

Figure 5G illustrates an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 502 that includes two unavailable 40 MHz bands 506, according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 16 bits: 1000001100001011.

The following table summarizes the various 320 MHz operating channel RU allocation configurations described above in connection with Figures 5A-5G, all supported by the first embodiment.

Figure 6A shows an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel 602 that includes a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 14 bits: 01001011110000.

Figure 6B shows an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel 602 that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands 504. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 14 bits: 00011011010010.

Figure 6C shows an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel 602, which includes one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band 506. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 14 bits: 11100000110000.

Figure 6D shows an allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel RU 602 that includes one unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504 and one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band 506. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 14 bits: 11100001000010.

Figure 6E shows an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel 602 that includes one unavailable 60 MHz sub-band 508. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 14 bits: 11110100000000.

Figure 6F shows an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel 602 that includes one unavailable 80 MHz sub-band 510. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 14 bits: 11000000001100.

Figure 6G shows an RU allocation configuration for a 240 MHz operating channel 602 that includes two unavailable 40 MHz sub-bands 506. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 14 bits: 10000011000010.

The following table summarizes the various 240 MHz operating channel RU allocation configurations described above in connection with Figures 6A-6G, all of which are supported by the first embodiment.

Figure 7A shows an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel 702 that includes a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 12 bits: 010010110000.

Figure 7B shows an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel 702 that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands 504. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 12 bits: 000110010010.

Figure 7C shows an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel 702 that includes one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band 506. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 12 bits: 111000000000.

Figure 7D shows an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel 702 that includes one unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504 and one unavailable 40 MHz sub-band 506. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 12 bits: 100001000010.

Figure 7E shows an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel 702 that includes one unavailable 60 MHz sub-band 508. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 12 bits: 110100000000.

Figure 7F shows an RU allocation configuration for a 160 MHz operating channel 702 that includes two unavailable 40 MHz sub-bands 506. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 12 bits: 100000000010.

The following table summarizes the various 160 MHz operating channel RU allocation configurations described above in connection with Figures 7A-7F, all supported by the first embodiment.

Figure 8A shows an RU allocation configuration for an 80 MHz operating channel 802 that includes a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 8 bits: 01001000.

Figure 8B shows an allocation configuration for an 80 MHz operating channel 802 that includes two unavailable 20 MHz bands 504. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 8 bits: 01000001.

The following table summarizes the various 80 MHz operating channel RU allocation configurations described above in connection with Figures 8A-8B, all supported by the first embodiment.

Second embodiment - Large size RU allocation #2

In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, a portion of the allocated frequency spectrum is the operating channel, and the bit representation is applicable when multiple large size RUs are allocated to a single target STA, with each subband having a bandwidth of 20 MHz. However, in the second embodiment, each binary value is one bit, and each binary value corresponds to an unavailable 20 MHz subband or an available 20 MHz subband.

Concatenated together, the result is a bitmap bit representation for the RU aggregation of a bit length equal to the number of 20 MHz subbands in the operating channel. Thus, for example, a 320 MHz operating channel may be assigned using a bit representation that is 16 bits in length, while a 160 MHz operating channel may be assigned using a bit representation that is 8 bits in length.

In the second embodiment described, a binary value of "0" indicates an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band, and a binary value of "1" indicates an available 20 MHz sub-band. It will be understood that these binary values may be optionally reversed in different embodiments.

In Figures 9A-9B, a 320 MHz operating channel 902 is shown in two RU allocation configurations. In each case, the operating channel is made up of four sub-blocks of the operating channel, with each sub-block of the operating channel being made up of four contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands. However, it will be appreciated that the second embodiment is equally applicable to operating channels of any size, e.g., 240 MHz, 160 MHz, or 80 MHz.

According to an exemplary aspect of the second embodiment, interpretation rules may be applied to the encoding and decoding schemes to improve compatibility. An unavailable 20 MHz sub-band may not straddle a 20 or 40 MHz boundary within a given sub-block of an operating channel, or an 80 MHz boundary between sub-blocks of an operating channel. An unavailable 40 MHz, 60 MHz, or 80 MHz portion of spectrum (i.e., two, three, or four contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands) may not straddle an 80 MHz boundary between sub-blocks of an operating channel. Furthermore, two contiguous available 20 MHz sub-bands (i.e., a 40 MHz portion of spectrum that may support a 484-tone RU) may not straddle a 40 MHz boundary within a given sub-block of an operating channel.

Two example bit representations for RU allocation according to the second embodiment are shown in Figures 9A-9B. It will be appreciated that the bitmap bit representation of the second embodiment may be used to encode any RU allocation configuration for any sized operating channel.

Figure 9A shows an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 902 that includes a single unavailable 20 MHz sub-band 504. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 16 bits: 101111111111111.

Figure 9B shows an RU allocation configuration for a 320 MHz operating channel 902 that includes two unavailable 20 MHz sub-bands 504. The bit representation 501 for this RU allocation configuration is 16 bits: 0111111111101111.

Third embodiment - Small size RU allocation

In 802.11ax, RU allocation for small size RUs (26, 52, and 106 tones) is specified per 20 MHz band. Therefore, multi-RU aggregation of small size RUs may also be indicated per 20 MHz band, i.e., the multi-RU allocation scheme for 802.11be may operate with the constraint that multiple RUs cannot be combined across a 20 MHz band boundary. Thus, multi-RU aggregation for any operating channel with a bandwidth greater than 20 MHz may be defined as a concatenation of separate RU aggregation configurations for each individual 20 MHz band in the larger operating channel.

In the third embodiment, the bit representation is applicable when multiple small size RUs are assigned to a single target STA, and the portion of the frequency spectrum assigned is a 20 MHz band. As in the second embodiment, each binary value is one bit, and each binary value corresponds to an unavailable or available subband. However, in the third embodiment, each one-bit binary value corresponds to a subband having a bandwidth for a 26-tone RU, with nine such subbands making up the 20 MHz band.

With reference to the drawings, FIG. 10 illustrates several example RU sizes and corresponding allocation bit representations 501 for a small size resource unit 1002 for a 20 MHz band according to a first aspect of the third embodiment of the present disclosure. Three example RU sets of RUs are shown: top, where a 26-tone RU is shown in each subband 1004; middle, where a 26-tone RU is shown in the middle (fifth) subband with two sets of 52-tone RUs on the left and right sides 1006; bottom, where a 26-tone RU is shown in the fifth subband with two 106-tone RUs on the left and right sides 1008, nine subbands are shown.

Thus, in a first aspect of the third embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the 20 MHz band is allocated using a bitmap bit representation of nine bits (b0, ..., b8) to indicate the RU allocation configuration. A binary value of 0 for a given bit (e.g., b0) indicates that the corresponding subband (e.g., the first subband on the left) is unavailable. A binary value of 1 for a given bit (e.g., b1) indicates that the corresponding subband (e.g., the second subband from the left) is available. It will be appreciated that these bit values may be reversed in some embodiments.

Interpretation rules may be applied to the encoding and decoding scheme of the third embodiment to improve compatibility and resolve ambiguities. Reading from the left, if four adjacent bits (e.g., b0 through b3) are encountered that are all coded as available (b0b1b2b3=1111), this indicates that a 106-tone RU spans these four subbands. Similarly, if two adjacent bits (e.g., b1 and b2) are encountered that are both coded as available (b1b2=11), this indicates that a 52-tone RU spans these two subbands.

In some embodiments, to increase compatibility, the fifth subband cannot be used by the 52 or 106-tone RUs, and the fifth bit (b4) therefore indicates either an unavailable subband (b4=0) or a single available subband supporting a 26-tone RU (b4=1). In some embodiments, the encoding and decoding of the allocated bit representation will resolve the ambiguity by assuming that the allocation of the maximum available RU as a bit or subband is analyzed starting from the left. Combining these two features, a bit representation of 111111101 may be encoded as a 106-tone RU (1111), followed by a 26-tone RU (1), followed by a 52-tone RU (11), followed by an unavailable subband (0), followed by a 26-tone RU (1). It will be understood that in some embodiments, these rules may be modified: the rules may be applied starting from the right, or with some other priority or sequencing of the bit or band analysis, or different assumptions may be made about the conditions under which a 106, 52, or 26 tone RU is assigned to which subband.

Figures 12A-12E show an example allocation of multiple small size RUs within a 20 MHz band 1002 according to a first aspect of the third embodiment described above.

Figure 12A shows an allocation configuration for a small size resource unit 1002 in a 20 MHz band, including two available subbands, capable of supporting a 26-tone resource unit 1022. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 9 bits: 010001000.

Figure 12B shows an allocation configuration for a small size resource unit 1002 in a 20 MHz band, including five available subbands, capable of supporting a 26-tone resource unit 1022. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 9 bits: 101010101.

Figure 12C shows an allocation configuration for a small size resource unit 1002 in a 20 MHz band, including two available subbands capable of supporting 26 tone resource units 1022 and two sets of available subbands capable of supporting 52 tone resource units 1024. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 9 bits: 011101110.

Figure 12D shows an allocation configuration for a small size resource unit 1002 in a 20 MHz band, including one available subband capable of supporting 26 tone resource units 1022 and one set of four subbands capable of supporting 106 available tone resource units 1026. The bit representation for this allocation configuration is 9 bits: 111110000.

Figure 12E shows an allocation configuration for a small size resource unit 1002 in a 40 MHz band, including four available subbands capable of supporting 26 tone resource units 1022 and four sets of available subbands capable of supporting 52 tone resource units 1024. The bit representation 501 for this allocation configuration is 18 bits: 011101011; 110101110 (representing the band spanning two 20 MHz spectral bands).

In a second aspect, the third embodiment may use an encoding scheme in which the fifth subband in frequency order is not available for allocation. According to this aspect, the bit representation has eight bits instead of nine, since the availability or unavailability of the fifth subband does not need to be represented in the bit representation. The binary values and constraints imposed in the second aspect of the third embodiment may be the same as those described above for the first aspect of the third embodiment.

Figure 11 shows some example RU sizes and corresponding allocation bit representations 501 for small size resource units 1002 in a 20 MHz band according to a second aspect of the third embodiment. Eight subbands are shown in addition to a fifth subband 1010 that is permanently unavailable. Three example RU allocations are shown: at the top, 26-tone RUs are assigned to each subband 1004, in the middle, two sets of 52-tone RUs are assigned 1006, and at the bottom, two 106-tone RUs are assigned 1008.

The exemplary allocation configurations of Figures 12A, 12C, and 12E are supported by the second aspect of the third embodiment. The bit representation for the allocation configuration of Figure 12A is 8 bits: 01001000. The bit representation for the allocation configuration of Figure 12C is 8 bits: 01111110. The bit representation for the allocation configuration of Figure 12E is 16 bits: 01111011; 11011110.

PHY data unit header encoding

In some embodiments, the bit representation may be included in a header of a physical layer protocol (PHY) data unit (PPDU). FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary physical layer protocol data unit format for communicating information over a wireless medium in the communications network of FIG. 4. The header includes a universal signal (U-SIG) field 1302 and an extremely high throughput signal (EHT-SIG) field 1304. In some embodiments, a bit representation for the availability of sub-bands in each separate 80 MHz sub-block of an operating channel or RU allocation is included in the universal signal field 1302. In some embodiments, a bit representation for the availability of sub-bands in each separate 80 MHz sub-block of an operating channel or RU allocation is included in the extremely high throughput signal field 1304. Generating, transmitting, receiving, and decoding the PPDU and its header are described in the exemplary processing system section above.

General

This disclosure provides certain example algorithms and calculations for implementing examples of the disclosed methods and systems. However, this disclosure is not bound to any particular algorithms or calculations. Although this disclosure describes methods and processes having steps in a particular order, one or more steps of the methods and processes may be omitted or modified, as appropriate. One or more steps may be performed in an order other than that described, as appropriate.

Through the description of the above embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using only hardware, or may be implemented using software and a required general-purpose hardware platform, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product. The software product may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transitory storage medium, which may be a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a USB flash drive, or a hard disk. The software product includes a plurality of instructions that enable a computer device (personal computer, server, or network device) to execute the method provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be understood that two or more of the various embodiments, aspects and examples described herein may be combined, as appropriate in a given context, in a single system, device or method that supports and implements the various configurations described herein.
[Other possible items]
[Item 1]
1. A method of allocating a portion of a frequency spectrum in a wireless local area network, comprising:
identifying a plurality of equally sized subbands that comprise a portion of the frequency spectrum;
identifying which of the plurality of subbands are available;
generating a bit representation of an allocation of resource units within said portion of the frequency spectrum for use by a target station, said bit representation being comprised of a plurality of binary values, each binary value indicating availability or non-availability of one or more sub-bands;
generating a physical layer protocol data unit, said physical layer protocol data unit having a header, said header including said bit representation;
transmitting the physical layer protocol data unit to a target station.
[Item 2]
the allocated portion of the frequency spectrum is an operating channel;
Each subband has a bandwidth of 20 MHz,
Each binary value indicates an unavailable subband or one or more available subbands capable of supporting a single-user large size resource unit.
The method according to item 1.
[Item 3]
the operating channel is composed of one to four sub-blocks of the operating channel, each sub-block of the operating channel being composed of four 20 MHz sub-bands;
the bit representations are arranged for each sub-block of the operating channel in a corresponding sub-block representation, each sub-block representation being arranged in one or more binary values;
3. The method according to item 1 or 2.
[Item 4]
Each binary value is 2 bits,
each binary value corresponds to the size of an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or one or more available contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands;
The method according to any one of items 1 to 3.
[Item 5]
The four possible binary values are:
a sub-band that is unavailable;
an available subband;
two consecutive usable subbands;
corresponding to four consecutive usable subbands,
The method according to item 4.
[Item 6]
Each binary value is one bit,
Each binary value corresponds to an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or an available 20 MHz sub-band.
The method according to any one of items 1 to 3.
[Item 7]
A binary value of "0" indicates an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band;
A binary value of "1" indicates an available 20 MHz sub-band;
The method according to item 6.
[Item 8]
the header includes a universal signal field;
the bit representation is included in the universal signal field;
8. The method according to any one of items 1 to 7.
[Item 9]
the header includes a very high throughput signal field;
the bit representation is included in the very high throughput signal field;
8. The method according to any one of items 1 to 7.
[Item 10]
1. A method comprising:
receiving a physical layer protocol data unit over a wireless local area network, the physical layer protocol data unit including a header, the header including bit representations;
identifying availability of the subbands to which resource units may be allocated within a portion of a frequency spectrum based on the bit representation, the bit representation being comprised of a plurality of binary values, each binary value indicating availability or non-availability of one or more subbands of a plurality of equally sized subbands constituting the portion of the frequency spectrum;
and communicating over the wireless local area network using one or more of the resource units.
[Item 11]
the allocated portion of the frequency spectrum is an operating channel;
Each subband has a bandwidth of 20 MHz,
Each binary value indicates an unavailable subband or one or more available subbands capable of supporting a single user resource unit.
11. The method according to item 10.
[Item 12]
The operating channel is composed of one to four sub-blocks of the operating channel, and each sub-block of the operating channel is composed of four sub-bands;
the bit representations are arranged for each sub-block of the operating channel in a corresponding sub-block representation, each sub-block representation being arranged in one or more binary values;
12. The method according to item 10 or 11.
[Item 13]
Each binary value is 2 bits,
each binary value corresponds to the size of an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or one or more available contiguous 20 MHz sub-bands;
13. The method according to any one of items 10 to 12.
[Item 14]
The four possible binary values are:
a sub-band that is unavailable;
an available subband;
two consecutive usable subbands;
corresponding to four consecutive usable subbands,
Item 14. The method according to item 13.
[Item 15]
each bit of the bit representation corresponds to an unavailable subband or an available subband;
13. The method according to any one of items 10 to 12.
[Item 16]
A binary value of "0" indicates an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band;
A binary value of "1" indicates an available 20 MHz sub-band;
Item 16. The method according to item 15.
[Item 17]
the header includes a universal signal field;
the bit representation is included in the universal signal field;
13. The method according to any one of items 10 to 12.
[Item 18]
the header includes a very high throughput signal field;
The bit representation is included in the very high signal throughput field.
13. The method according to any one of items 10 to 12.
[Item 19]
1. A station capable of use in a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising:
The station is configured to execute the method according to claim 1.
Station.
[Item 20]
1. A processing system comprising:
A processing device;
a wireless network interface for wireless communication with a network;
A memory and
The memory stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing device, implement a communications module configured to perform the method of claim 10 using the wireless network interface.
system.

Claims (8)

1. A method for transmitting multi-RU physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) over an operating channel having one or more 80 MHz sub-blocks, comprising:
identifying , by a station , a plurality of 20 MHz sub-bands for each separated 80 MHz sub-block of said operating channel;
identifying , by said station, for each isolated 80 MHz sub-block of said operating channel, which of said plurality of 20 MHz sub-bands are unavailable;
generating , by the station, a bit representation of availability of 20 MHz sub-blocks in each separated 80 MHz sub-block of the operating channel for allocating a resource unit (RU) to a single other station, each of the bit representations being comprised of four 1-bit binary values, each binary value corresponding to an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or an available 20 MHz sub-band within the 80 MHz sub-block;
generating , by the station, the PPDU, the PPDU including a header, the header having a U-SIG field, the U-SIG field including the bit representation for each isolated 80 MHz sub-block of the operating channel;
transmitting , by the station, the PPDU to the single other station, wherein a plurality of RUs of 242 tones or greater are allocated in the available subband to the single other station. A binary value of "0" indicates an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band;
A binary value of "1" indicates an available 20 MHz sub-band;
The method of claim 1. 1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a station, a multi-RU physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) over an operating channel having one or more 80 MHz sub-blocks in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the PPDU including a header, the header including a U-SIG field, the U-SIG field including a bit representation for each isolated 80 MHz sub-block of the operating channel;
identifying a 20 MHz sub-band to which a resource unit (RU) is assigned within the operating channel based on respective bit representations for respective isolated 80 MHz sub-blocks of the operating channel, each bit representation being comprised of four 1-bit binary values, each binary value corresponding to an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band or an available 20 MHz sub-band within the 80 MHz sub-block;
communicating over the WLAN using one or more of 242 tones or more of a plurality of resource units allocated to the station in the available 20 MHz sub-band. A binary value of "0" indicates an unavailable 20 MHz sub-band;
A binary value of "1" indicates an available 20 MHz sub-band;
The method according to claim 3. 1. A station capable of use in a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising:
The station is configured to carry out the method of claim 1.
Station. 1. A processing system comprising:
A processing device;
a wireless network interface for wireless communication with a network;
A memory and
The memory stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing device, implement a communications module configured to perform the method of claim 3 using the wireless network interface.
system. A program causing a processing device to perform the method of claim 1 using a wireless network interface. A program causing a processing device to perform the method of claim 3 using a wireless network interface.

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